Степанян Դավիթ Stepanyan Ստեփանյան David Давид

Author of Stone Dreams goes from Azerbaijan to Turkey

Akram Aylisli, whose Stone Dreams novella has caused scandal and anti-Armenian hysteria in Azerbaijan, has gone from Azerbaijan to Turkey.

According to AzVision.az, the writer is currently in Marmaris. He has not yet explained why he has left Azerbaijan.

Aylisli is an Azerbaijani writer, novelist and former member of parliament. His works have been translated from his native Azerbaijani into a number of languages in the former Soviet Union and around the world. He was decorated by the President of Azerbaijan with the prestigious Istiglal (2002) and Shokhrat orders.

In 2013, after the publication of Aylisli's Stone Dreams novella, which depicted the pogroms carried out by Azerbaijanis against the Armenians in Sumgait and Baku and presented Armenians in sympathetic light, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree that stripped Aylisli of the title of People's Writer and the presidential pension. His books were burnt by Azerbaijani intelligentsia and compatriots in his hometown.

In March 2014, a formal request was made by various public figures throughout the world to nominate Aylisli for the Nobel Peace Prize.